Images of a flag being stood upon sparked one rally. Meanwhile, images of young African Americans being killed sparked another rally. Both rallies took place at Wright State at the same time.
Two protests were held on Wright State’s campus Tuesday afternoon, one led by a group of veterans, another by young people concerned with recent events of violence.
Last Friday, a lone protester stood on an American flag sparking anger and frustration from active military and veterans in the area. In response, Staff Sgt. Anthony Ritchie organized a flag run on WSU’s campus Tuesday evening.
“I have had many brothers that have fallen and I carry their stories with me,” Ritchie said. Ritchie served the United States in Iraq in 2007. “To have that story and see something like that, I just have to stand up for that.”
While Ritchie and over a hundred folks walked around campus with flags, a group of students met near the Turning Points art piece asking WSU President David Hopkins to make administrative changes including reminding people at Saturday’s commencement that “black lives matter.” The group is requesting Hopkins to respond by noon Thursday.
Wright State spokesperson Seth Bauguess said that one person was led away by WSU Police for criminal trespassing. Other than that, both rallies were largely peaceful. Six officers stood watch along with members of Hopkins’ administration.
Protesters from the Black Lives Matter demonstration exchanged the flag its members stood and spoke on as participants of the flag run gathering finished its trek around campus.
People carried signs in support of the protests in Baltimore in response to the killing of Freddie Gray. Gray, a 25-year-old African American, was killed on April 12 while in police custody.
Freshman theater student Brittany Williams was pleased with the turnout and the message sent by the Black Lives Matter protest.
“It shows to me that my brothers and sisters not of color, it shows to me that they value my existence,” Williams said. “I feel like it unified us as humans, I respect you, that even though we have disagreements, you are valuable.”
Beavercreek Mayor Brian Jarvis attended Tuesday’s flag run as a veteran and three-time WSU graduate.
“I think a lot of people don’t understand that freedom means freedom from,” Jarvis said, “freedom from the government imposing and from the government restricting, it is not freedom to do anything you want. I don’t think the students here at Wright State understand that it is freedom from.”
Jarvis said he was offended by the images from Friday’s protest. While some students demand change from Hopkins, Jarvis said as an African American man, he was well respected during his time at WSU.
“I have been coming to Wright State for 41 years, I have never been treated badly, I have never been treated racistly and I have nothing but good things to say about Wright State,” Jarvis said.
Jarvis has had a small experience of what has taken place in Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo. Last year, 22-year-old John Crawford was shot and killed by police in the Beavercreek Walmart. Jarvis said Beavercreek Police’s approval rating is over 91 percent by its residents and that Beavercreek is different from Baltimore and Ferguson because of its income and education levels.
“You can handle economic impacts, you can handle any type of tension that hits the community because you have these things which sustain the community every day,” Jarvis said.
Williams hopes that Tuesday’s rally by Black Lives Matter will help relationships between African Americans and other students.
“I think too many people are taking cues from mainstream news on how to treat black people,” Williams said. “I feel like there is a lack of compassion and a lack of comfortability. Many students here, and this is not an exaggeration, are not around black people often so they don’t know how to approach us because of the corruption that is going on in the news.”
For Ritchie, he wanted to turn what he saw Friday as a negative into a positive. The gathering he expected to be small turned into something larger. He said Ritchie and other veterans will conduct a flag run on WSU’s campus daily.
“We want to make it positive and talk about the flag and what it means to us,” Ritchie said.
